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"Blacken the sky Can't stand to see the sun The truth of light Reveals the hatred that has won" – I Saw The End by Pallbearer

I believe that southern fried doom should be a sub genre. Waft-among a few others-would be a part of that sub genre. Waft is from South Carolina and are also a part of the kind of doom revolution. There have been doom bands starting up like hellish forest fires lately. Waft is definitely a part of that revolution. The new doom age is a good thing to be a part of. There are now doom acts popping up everywhere. It’s spreading like the plague, but a plague that you want to be a part of instead of cower in fear of. Chronolith is the second release by this band and some of the songs that make an appearance here are also on the record that was out a year before this. With those songs in hand as well as a few new ones Chronolith was born.

There are six songs total on this album that amount to a pretty solid run time. Instead of having songs that last well over ten minutes however, Waft cut them shorter than most doom acts keeping the longest at just over seven minutes and the shortest at two minutes. Waft pretty much stick to the typical doom standards. The riffs are low and slow and dissonant, and the drums follow suit and the bass vibrates loud and proud.

Even though the formula is followed pretty closely to other doom acts, Waft does use something to their advantage and that is the southern dirty, thick style of doom that they produce. Southern doom separates itself from other styles because you don’t feel that cold darkness that you feel while listening to doom that is entirely meant to make you slit your wrists. Instead it is a good mixture of sludge and the trudging doom that it has become to be known as.

Sticking with the southern theme, the riffs are country fried in doom batter only to be slathered all over every track. Sludge does play a part when the songs pick the tempo up from the muddy crawl that makes up the majority of the songs. Bass is also a key fixture in any good doom/sludge. Without a constant buzzing bass there isn’t good doom. The bass provides back bone to the songs, without the back bone provided by the bass doom in general would just sound odd. However, Waft does provide the bass for days to come. The bass even gets to shine all by itself with a bass solo of sorts in the song Warpaint. With the deep fried musicianship that is certainly head bang worthy, Waft provide some depraved shrieks as well. Throughout Chronolith the vocalist screams and yells until he’s probably blue in the face. The vocals are rough and almost as buzz filled as the guitars are.

As I said up top, southern fried doom should be a genre, and if it isn’t then it’s time to start one. Waft are certainly a part of the new doom uprising and Chronolith is a good crunchy album for your ears to sink into.